Tuesday, 23 December 2014

OK,
apologies first – I had to go off the island in October for a short while and
then Susannah was away with the kids, so I was helping to cover the Administrator’s
job as well and then there was just so much to catch up on that I didn’t know
where to start with the blog. Then more stuff happened so there was no spare
time, then I went away with the kids for a long-weekend visiting, which the
weather made into a long week, we brought back norovirus, then it was nearly Christmas, so sorry for not keeping the blog up to date. Hopefully you were able to keep in touch with the news throughout the autumn via Facebook or Twitter though.

Little Bunting and Brambling (Paul French). It was a very good autumn for the former species.

This seems a
good a time as any to try to summarise things though and where better to start
than with the birds:

Red-flanked Bluetail, Skinner's Glig (Paul French). Relocated here four days after being ringed at the Obs and not seen during the intervening days.

It was a strange
autumn in some respects, with some of the ‘big rares’ just missing us and a
perception that Fair Isle had a quiet autumn, but with White’s Thrush,
Grey-cheeked Thrush (our 2nd consecutive year with a record), Lanceolated
Warbler, Red-flanked Bluetail (trapped at the Obs) and an intriguing ‘Stejneger’s’
Siberian Stonechat, along with back up in the form of a couple of Arctic
Warblers, seven Olive-backed Pipits, three Red-throated Pipits, a decent spread
of scarcities and some really good thrush falls that brought good numbers of
Robins, Woodcocks and other common migrants, the birding was rarely less than
very enjoyable. I suppose we’re the victim of our own success in some ways,
with a roll-call of rarities that would surely be the envy of most other sites (maybe
even counties) in the UK, but one that didn’t quite hit the heights of previous
years and perhaps paled in comparison to our immense rarity-filled spring.

The Siberian Stonechat that arrived in late October and appears to be a very good candidate for Stejneger's Stonechat.

Two of the three autumn Red-throated Pipits were smart adults, including this stunning individual brilliantly photographed by Steve Arlow

As the
autumn progressed though, it became apparent that our epic spring had left us
with a rather healthy year list and, despite a couple of quiet spells where we
hadn’t added that many species(mid-August and late-September in particular producing some decent
conditions, but not many new birds), we were still in with a sniff of the
record.

When I last
left you, we had just added Treecreeper, our 212th species of the
year on 9th October, but there weren’t too many gaps in the year
list that would make the five species needed to equal 1992’s record 217 specieseasy to find. In fact, we had to wait almost
a week before the next addition, our seventh ever Firecrest on 15th,
followed two days later by a brief Rough-legged Buzzard, then strong westerlies
saw the most obvious gap remaining filled with the first of several records of
Greenland White-fronted Goose (21st). Two species to go to equal the
record and we eventually cashed in on a displacement of Nearctic passerines
with a superbly showy Grey-cheeked Thrush at the Obs on 24th.

This Firecrest in the Raevas was one of the highlights of the autumn in terms of looks.

This Grey-cheeked Thrush kept up the recent good run of autumn American passerines, with 10 individuals of 6 species in the last eight years (that's more than St Agnes in the same period I believe), keeping up the discussion on whether this apparent shift in the focus of trans-Atlantic waifs is weather or observer related.

Another
quiet spell followed, with further westerlies eventually giving way to some
more productive winds at the end of the month that produced more birds (including
the Stejneger’s Stonechat), but no additions to the year list.

A very good year for Great Grey Shrikes saw four individuals recorded in the autumn. This bird was at Lower Stoneybrek and was later caught at the Plantation and remained around the Obs until 10th November.

We were well
into the second week of November (very much the 90th minute of the
migration season to use a football analogy) when Susannah struck with her finest birding moment on Fair Isle to
date, a Shorelark at Lower Leogh on 10th; species number 217. The wind
stayed in the SE for the next week, birding was fairly intense (whenever the rain
allowed) and eventually another wave of thrushes brought in species number 218 –
a smart male Bullfinch in the Wirvie Burn on 17th. There were no more new species after
that, although in early December the BOU upped the total by one more with the
splitting of Moltoni’s Warbler (see here for details of that one from the spring, our rarest bird this year as it turned out). We've still got over a week to go, so it's possible this remarkable year will spring one last surprise, but we'll settle for 219 species! You’ll find all the up to date sightings here.

If accepted,
this female Moltoni's Warbler (identified by DNA) will be just the 4th British
record and a first for Fair Isle of this newly split species, making it our
rarest bird on the Isle this year in national terms. Of course, all the stats
on the year list etc are with the proviso that the various committees who
adjudicate on rarity occurrences agree with our identifications (we’ll have submitted
around 70 records to the BBRC, SBRC and SBCRC by the end of the year)

So, thanks very much to the team and our
guests and visitors for all the hard work needed to get to this impressive
total. In the grand scheme of things, a year list record maybe doesn’t mean a great
deal, but it’s a great way to remember a really good birding year, in which other
ornithological highlights have included three new species to the Fair Isle list
(Glossy Ibis, Bridled Tern and Moltoni’s Warbler – with Caspian
Stonechat, Southern Italian Eastern Subalpine Warbler [they really need to sort
the taxonomy and names of this species out soon!], sinensis
Cormorant and possibly Stejneger’s Stonechat amongst the new subspecies noted,
although the latter subspecies may well have occurred previously), the best
seabird breeding season for several years and the highest number of birds
ringed since 1998.

The Obs team at the start of the season (none of us looked like this by the end of the year!). Other staff members came and went, each bringing their own strengths with them. Another year of a good bunch of people and some lasting friendships.

There are
plenty of other things to catch up on, but I think I’ve gone on long enough for now, so
I’d just like to take advantage of the season of goodwill to catch up on a few
thank yous to everyone who has helped FIBO and Susannah and I through our
fourth year running the Obs. First of all to all the FIBO staff (and we
include the visiting RSPB researchers in this, as they feel very much like part
of the FIBO team); we’ve seen our fair share of blood, sweat and tears this
year but we’ve enjoyed having all of you here, we want to thank you for all
your efforts and we’re glad we’ve made some friends who we'll hopefully stay in
touch with well beyond our FIBO years. Also, to all our volunteers, we hope you
enjoyed your stay as much as we enjoyed having you here and we look forward to seeing
some of you here again. Technically also volunteers have been our various family and friends, particularly our parents, who have provided all manner of help when visiting us. Also falling into the category of volunteers are the FIBOT
Directors and we want to thank you all again for your help during the year. The
work that the Directors put into the successful running of the Obs, be it
sorting finances, shifting vans or engines from Grutness, manning stands at
Birdfairs, running research projects or just answering our enquiries about
everything from petrels to people carriers, is very much appreciated (and a special thank you to Roger Riddington, who stood down as Chairman this year). We also
appreciate the support given to us by JNCC, SNH, SOTEAG and the Seabird Group. The Fair
Isle community is a unique group of people and it’s obvious to say that FIBO
couldn’t run the way we do without their support, so thank you to everyone on
the island, especially those who have answered our calls for help during the
course of the year. Of course, without all of you who support the Obs by
visiting, being members of FOFI or sending donations, there wouldn’t be a FIBO,
so the biggest thanks is due to you. Personally, I have to thank Susannah as well (and not just for the Shorelark!); running an increasingly busy Obs (it was another record year for visitor numbers) and looking after me and the kids isn't easy (in fact, I reckon it must be the hardest job at the Obs) but she does it very well, as I'm sure anyone who has visited us will agree with. Thanks love.

A busy year, but a fun one, for us, the Obs team, visitors and islanders, with plenty of highlights all round (photo: Ciaran Hatsell).

So now the
shortest day has passed, we’re finally getting caught up with the office work and
our thoughts are turning to the rapidly approaching 2015. Staff and volunteer vacancies are now up on this very blog if you’d like to join us as part of the
team next season (although note that we’re out of the office until 5th
January, so we’ll not be able to answer emails until then), but for now, Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year, may all your birding in 2015 be fun.

Christmas is coming, the Tundra Bean Geese are getting fat (well, they've been lingering on the island for over a month now and seem to be doing quite well, although numbers have dropped from 13 to 9 this week).

Friday, 10 October 2014

If the
excitement of a Barn Owl didn’t exactly set the pages of Birdforum alight, it’s
fair to say that the next couple of days would also be unlikely to see any
charters winging our way, and yet the birding was some of the most enjoyable of
the year so far.With a light
to fresh easterly wind (NE at first veering SE later), it felt good – and it
was. Thrushes were the most obvious arrivals on 8th, with the final Log totals of 1921
Song Thrush (a particularly good count), 876 Redwing, 129 Blackbird, 126 Robin,
61 Blackcap and 46 Goldcrest giving an idea of the bulk of the birds to be
found.

A decent number of birds have been ringed during the current fall, including this female Sparrowhawk. (photo: Ciaran Hatsell)

It wasn’t
long before highlights started to appear amongst them, with a Buzzard first
seen over the Hill Dyke then a Great Grey Shrike found behind Lower Leogh.

Buzzards are less than annual on Fair Isle, so this was a good record. (photo: Rochard Cope)

The Great Grey Shrike with prey (photo: Ciaran Hatsell)

Other
species still present included an Olive-backed Pipit at Pund, with possibly the
same bird later in the Gully (both sightings are taken as referring to the same
bird as was seen briefly at Hjukni Geo on 7th for now), the 3 Tundra Bean Geese
(seen properly today!), a Little Bunting at Pund (possibly a different
individual to the one at Walli Burn on 7th), a Yellow-browed Warbler
at the Obs, Slavonian Grebein South Harbour, the two roaming male Pochard, 3
Lapland Bunting and yesterday’s Dotterel was joined by a second.

Rarer than Lancey: 2 Pochards on Easter Lother Water.

A few new
species included Redstart, Stonechat, Quail and a male Gadwall (in a good current spell
for wildfowl), whilst other healthy counts included 476 Pink-footed,
112 Greylag and 95 Barnacle Geese, 24 Jack Snipe, 139 Snipe, a wonderful 13
Short-eared Owl, 34 Ring Ouzel, 68 Wheatear, 144 Brambling, 25 Reed Bunting and
2 Tree Pipit (showing that they aren’t all OBPs!). The day was lacking that one
big rarity until just after 1pm, when the run to School to pick Grace up
resulted in a major Fair Isle rarity being found at Upper Stoneybrek. The fact
that it was a Blue Tit may not have been what people were expecting (although
it turned out to be part of a decent arrival in the Northern Isles), but as
it’s only Fair Isle’s 13th, and just the second record since 1989
(following one in 2012) we weren’t complaining.

Much rarer than Lancey!

A calm
morning on 9th gave way to an increasing westerly breeze, although the
early morning rain cleared giving a cool, but pleasant day in the field. It was
immediately obvious that there’d been a clear out of thrushes (with counts of 618
Song Thrush, 23 Blackbird and 7 Ring Ouzel for example showing large decreases
from yesterday) and most other species also diminishing in number. The only species to
show a significant increase was Brambling, with 169 Logged (thanks largely to a
flock of 105 in North Naaversgill). Familiar faces included the Blue Tit (which
reappeared at Midway, assuming it was the same bird…), Olive-backed Pipit (at
Ditfield, with another possible not far away – I suspect it may only be a
matter of time before more than one is confirmed), Little Bunting at Chalet,
the Buzzard again floating about, the two Pochard still roaming, Hen Harrier,
Slavonian Grebe and a good selection of geese, with 538 Pink-feet, 149 Barnacle
and now 4 Tundra Beans, whilst a Shoveleradded to the recent duck list.

Olive-backed Pipit at Ditfield, showing better than the photo would suggest.

Slavonian Grebe in South Harbour - presumbaly the bird seen off Hjukni Geo a couple of days ago.

The three Tundra Bean Geese at Barkland (another single was seen on Meoness and lingered with Pink-feet for a while before heading south).

New highlights
were hard to come by, although Yellow-browed Warblers increased to 3 and a
Long-eared Owl showed well near South Light (from where a blue Fulmar was seen
offshore), that was until late in the afternoon, when a visiting group called
with the news of a Treecreeper at South Light. A frantic twitch later saw most
people getting views of this impressively frosty northern bird, which relocated to nearby Smirri Geo, as it scurried
around seemingly quite contentedly on the lichen covered rocks.

The mystery bird from the photo at the top of the blog - 'Northern' Treecreeper, showing it's pale 'frosty' upperparts.

Very clean and white with a dazzling white supercillium, most (possibly all) of the previous Shetland records have thought to be Northern 'familiaris' birds, including the eight previous Fair Isle records (making this species even rarer than Blue Tit on the island, with previous records in 1906, 1913, 1959, 1980, 1987, 1993, 1998 and 2010).

So with the recent
highlights reading: Barn Owl, Treecreeper, Blue Tit and Buzzard it’s been a
strange few days, with that list looking more reminiscent of a pleasant
woodland walk on the UK mainland than the peak of autumn migration on Fair
Isle, although I’m sure it’s not over yet (but will the next decent bird be of locally-exciting
calibre of Jay or something a bit more hoped for by our visitors…).

Wednesday, 8 October 2014

Storm 10 at times: the view from the Obs this morning (photo: Ciaran Hatsell).

After the excitement of the White’s Thrush on 4th, things
quietened down on 5th, with lingering scarcities including a
Bluethroat and 2 Yellow-browed Warblers and a fresh southerly breeze not
encouraging that many migrants, although 40 Whooper Swans were impressive and a
Slavonian Grebe off Hjukni Geo was the first of the year.A very strong SE wind on 6th made birding difficult, with
severe gale force winds later in the day being accompanied by rain, but it was
obvious that birds were coming in and the day finished with high counts including
570 Song Thrush, 293 Redwing, 36 Goldcrest and 25 Robin, whilst highlights included
2 Little Buntings, a Dotterel (with the Golden Plover flock on Lerness) and
some decent wildfowl movement that included 2 Pochard (a rare bird on Fair
Isle, with less than 60 records) and the first Scaup of the year (a smart male in
the Havens, that then appeared on the cliffs of Easter Lother).

After first being seen in the Havens, it's possible that this bird was maybe attacked by Bonxies, forcing it onto the atypical habitat of the cliffs. What was very possibly the same bird was present on 7th off Hjukni Geo. A Long-tailed Duck seen on Suka Mire and Easter Lother on 7th was also a species in less than expected habitat. (photo: Ciaran Hatsell).

The 7th opened with the promise of birds to come, but it was
clear that it would have to wait as the driving rain continued and the SE winds were
absolutely lashing the island, reaching Storm 10 and making walking pretty
difficult, let alone birding. We did manage to get a bit of goose scanning in
and picked out 4 Barnacle Geese darvic rings (which are likely to be birds ringed
in Svalbard, but we’ll update you on those later), amongst the 139 Barnacle Geese, with 490
Pink-feet and 94 Greylag also present, along with 22 Whooper Swans.

The Barnacle Geese have remained relatively settled below Shirva for a couple of days, allowing good opportunities for scoping them.

The rain
eventually cleared at about 3pm, the wind eased slightly (30mph+ still wasn’t
exactly calm) and a frantic dash around the census areas as the light began to
fade saw the slightly more sheltered west cliffs heaving with birds, although
viewing was still difficult. An Olive-backed Pipit put in a brief appearance at
Hjukni Geo, a Little Bunting roamed south east and other highlights included a late
Quail, a Yellow-browed Warbler at the Obs, the Dotterel (which flew south down
the island), Hen Harrier, Lapland Bunting, Long-eared Owl and both Pochard still present on Da
Water. It was the number of birds that was most notable though as, even
allowing for the conditions, Log totals included 864 Song Thrush, 346 Redwing, 72
Brambling, 32 Robin, 22 Blackbird, 15 Siskin, 25 Woodpigeon, 19 Jack Snipe, 59
Snipe, 10 Woodcock (the first of the autumn), 9 Reed Bunting, 5 Dunnock, 3 ‘North-western’
Common Redpolls and single Jackdaw (the first of the autumn) and Fieldfare. Not
bad!

Good numbers of Jack Snipe were seen today, but getting good views was another matter altogether, so well done to Ciaran for this picture.

Having warned at the previous evening’s Log that we could expect almost
anything to turn up with the current weather, it was still a surprise to
receive a call from John Day (a friend from my days working at the Lodge back
when it were all nowt but trees) late in the afternoon saying he’d just seen a Barn Owl. What’s more
his description (‘in the field with the Barnacle Geese and the two cows’) meant
it was right behind me as I had just started to walk up Malcolm’s Head. I turned
round and started getting the news out and, as I was doing so, it flew from the
burn and headed towards me, flopping regularly into the grass. It spent some
time out in the open before dropping into Steensi Geo, where it appeared to
roost on the cliffs. An amazing record and well worth the pint I owed John for
adding a species to my Fair Isle list.

With just five previous records, this is a major Fair Isle bird. The fact that they all occured between 1924 and 1958 (and the last three were all seen by the same person) means that it ranks pretty high on the 'most-wanted' list of staff and islanders for those species on the Fair Isle list and it attracted a reasonable twitch. Interestingly, all bar one of the previous records was also an alba-type white-breasted bird rather than the perhaps more expected dark-breasted guttata. It really is a bizarre and sensational record, but where has this bird come from?

Amazingly, one of our guests had given a talk on Barn Owls on Sunday evening. I'm not sure if it's the first talk on that subject in FIBO's history, but the remarkable coincidence of the occurence of this bird so soon after has led to calls for a talk on Siberian Blue Robin soon!

As a postscript to the amazing Barn Owl story, as I was sat at the base of Malcolm's Head keeping an eye on the owl as it sat in the field in front of me, a large flock of Pink-feet went up having seen approaching 'twitchers'. I swung my camera round, managed to get one in-focus shot of the flock and then went back to keeping an eye on the owl. It was only when looking at the photo back in the office that I noticed that there seem to be three Tundra Bean Geese in the shot! Can you spot them?

So, storm force winds, a Fair Isle mega and a major thrush fall, and yet I think
the main excitement could still be to come from this week yet…

Sunday, 5 October 2014

Well, it’s
been an interesting few days since the last update, with some strong westerly winds
and the odd bout of easterlies that hadn’t really delivered on their promise
(to Fair Isle at least). There’s no denying that it’s been tough going at
times, with White’s Thrush, Siberian Rubythroat and Yellow-rumped Warbler not
far north of us and Eye-browed Thrush and Pechora Pipit gracing our neighboursto the south, whilst top-quality rarities seemed largely to pass us by. Various
theories were put forward (including: ‘the wrong kind of weather’, ‘a curse’ or
having had ‘too much good fortune in the spring’), but we were all hopeful it
was just one of those things and everything would come good. There’s certainly
been no flagging from the Wardening team, with double-census on most days, whilst
some really keen visitors have also covered many miles of ditches, fields and
cliffs, but sometimes things just don’t go your way.

There have been arrivals of common migrants including good numbers of Brambling.

There have
still been some decent birds about, with old favourites including the
Rose-coloured Starling lingering to 3rd (when it was seen looking
rather bedraggled after some heavy rain and poor weather), the Bluethroat at
Pund throughout, daily records of up to 5 Yellow-browed Warblers and up to 2
Common Rosefinch (to 30th September). New scarcities included Wryneck
and Barred Warbler on 29th, a Little Bunting on 30th, the
first Grey Phalarope of the year on 2nd (a bird on the sea off Da
Burrian) and 2 Richard’s Pipits on 3rd (one to 4th) with
other migrants of note including a Hen Harrier from 1st, a peak of
122 Redwing on 30th Sep and the first North-western Common Redpoll
of the autumn on 3rd.

Richard's Pipit in the Parks, the first sign of new passerine arrivals for a while.

The lack of rostrata/islandica-type Redpolls had been a bit of a surprise given
the westerly winds, with other birds from that direction clearly arriving,
including a surge in Wheatear numbers that peaked at 182 on 28th
(most of which were leucorhoa ‘Greenland’
birds), the first Whooper Swans of the autumn (from 27th Sep and
peaking at 30 on 29th) and daily Pink-footed Goose records. The latter
benefitted from a relatively calm day on 4th, with several skeins on
the move (a large number of which spent at least part of the day resting on
Mire of Vatnagaard) and a final total of 1105 logged (along with 72 Barnacle
Geese, 22 Greylag, 68 Wigeon and 10 Red-breasted Merganser).

Whooper Swan passage over Fair Isle is quite variable, but these were part of an impressive group on 29th which toured the island, providing a wonderful spectacle as they trumpetted there way around.

The 4th
also brought a large amount of rain, which made census impractical for the morning
(we did try, but with rain-soaked bins and birds clearly keeping to cover, it
proved a thankless task), but by about 3pm, the downpour had finally stopped
and census was on, surely this was the day that Fair Isle would wake from its
temporary slumbers…

Early signs
were slow (although singles of Pomarine Skua, Sooty Shearwater, Storm Petrel and
blue Fulmar were seen from the Good Shepherd) with a Little Bunting at Chalet
then Pund the pick of the crop, but it was good to be birding in calm, dry
conditions and it really felt promising. That’s not to say that there wasn’t a
certain element of surprise when Richard phoned to say ‘WHITE'S THRUSH near
Wester Lother’! The Obs machine was put into full effect rounding up people from
across the island and this notorious skulker, which often leads potential
observers on a merry dance went on to not only show well to everyone, but also
to treat us to a merry dance!

The White's Thrush was found by Richard as it fed on the slope behind Wester Lother. It spent most of the time out in the open, often just under this ridge, where good scope views were obtained. Photo: Ciaran Hatsell.

The 13th
record for Fair Isle, they are always an absolutely fantastic bird to see, with
Ciaran’s video below (taken not long before dusk), showing the species curious ‘bobbing’
motion when feeding. So, despite a few quiet days, things are definitely looking
up, with a lot of happy staff (none more so than Ciaran who was marooned on the
‘wrong’ Farne Island when one turned up there in 2012; although spare a thought
for poor David Steel, his colleague on Brownsman at the time, who had just been
visiting Fair Isle, but left the day before the White’s Thrush was found) and
guests last night. It could be an interesting spell coming up as well, with
some fresher southerly winds giving way to a few days of SE winds (gale force
at times), bringing a lot of rain, but maybe more birds…

Friday, 26 September 2014

Red-throated Pipit at Setter, a rare opportunity to see a red-throated individual in autumn (photo by Ciaran Hatsell)

My last
prediction proved hopelessly optimistic, as the westerly winds kicked in early
and very few new migrants made arrival. New highlights were a Richard’s Pipit at
Field then Setter (23rd & 24th) and a Short-toed Lark
in a mobile Skylark flock around the back of North Naaversgill, with the Red-throated
Pipit (until 24th) and Rose-coloured Starling (until 25th
at least) both still proving popular. Other scarcities included the Bluethroat (until
25th at least), up to 5 Yellow-browed Warbler, 2 Common Rosefinch
and a (unringed) Barred Warbler (23rd).

The Rose-coloured Starling seems to have settled in the area around the Walli Burn.

With the
winds from the NW, it was no surprise that goose passage picked up and 764
Pink-feet, 56 Barnacles and 5 Greylag were recorded on 24th, with 11
Lapland Buntings also likely to have come from the same direction.

With the increase in the wind, any sheltered areas of coast have been attracting birds like these Shags in North Haven, although there have been no rarer species brought in yet.

By the 25th,
new arrivals were more or less restricted to a Goldeneye (the first of the
autumn), with numbers of most common species decreasing and just a few geese
still passing through.

Up to 10 Jack Snipe have been counted in recent days as the ditches are thoroughly searched for migrants.

The highlight
for most visitors during this period though were twitchable Killer Whales on
consecutive days on 24th and 25th, with the first day in
particular proving exciting as they first moved north up the island before
appearing around South Harbour, where everyone got to catch up with them. A
Risso’s Dolphin (24th) and 2 Porpoise (25th) added to the
cetacean sightings.

Although they normally either motor past the island or stop to prey on seals, these Killer Whales appeared to be hunting fish offshore (on 25th at least) if the number of Gannets feeding around them was anything to go by. (photo by Ciaran Hatsell).

Nice though
whales and dolphins are, most people’s thoughts are now firmly fixed on the
birding, with the current gale-force westerly winds having great potential to bring
something across the Atlantic, although the odds are always long when hoping
for an American vagrant. An exhausted Red-eyed Vireo at Sumburgh on 25th
certainly boded well, but it may well be tomorrow before conditions improve
enough to actually see anything. Sunday looks promising as the winds start to
drop, then Monday and Tuesday could see some lighter SE winds before a return
to the weather coming in from the Atlantic later in the week. In an ideal
world, this would mean we’ll be having American rarities sandwiching a nice
eastern gem or two, but as my predictions have been woefully inaccurate so far
this autumn, I’ll stick to waiting and seeing what turns up…

Will it be the wild Atlantic or the stormy North Sea that our next rarity has crossed to reach us?...

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

21st-22nd SeptemberA strong NW
wind on Sunday brought an unsurprising lack of birds, although going against
the grain somewhat was a smart Olive-backed Pipit found lurking in long grass
around the Quoy allotment, whilst a good spread of lingering migrants made for
a pleasant day in the field.

Although incredibly elusive at times, the OBP at Quoy could be watched feeding in the grass down to around 2 metres.

Monday
opened very calm, the perfect conditions for a bit of drifty movement and early
signs were promising, with a Barred Warbler and Reed Warbler trapped in the morning
(further Barred Warbler sightings during the day at Barkland, School, Vaila’s
Trees, Schoolton, Burkle and Haa were all thought to be the same wandering
individual). Whilst there didn’t seem to be huge numbers of new birds in, it
felt good and, sure enough, an Arctic Warbler was found near North Shirva during
morning census. Although not exactly a ‘Fair Isle special’, this is about the
90th record of this species for the island and it is still not easy
to connect with in most of the UK (in my home county of Durham for example, I reckon
there’s only been one record since I saw my first on Hartlepool
Headland back in 1996 – there are probably more people who’ve seen Eastern
Crowned Warbler in the county than Arctic!).Perhaps only
on Fair Isle would a BB rarity be a ‘good sign’ rather than the day’s
stand-alone highlight, but we were certainly hopeful for more and, just as hope
seemed to be fading with the light (and the onset of light rain), visiting
birders Micky Maher, Martin Culshaw and Phil Harris found Fair Isle’s 89thLanceolated Warbler near the roadside between Midway and Upper Leogh. Thanks to
their swift reporting, an entire Obs-full of guests was able to enjoy this
fearless locustella giving great
views before dinner (we were only slightly late back, but the kitchen staff
were very understanding again!).

The Lancie showed very well (although I only managed a couple of rubbish record shots as it hid in a hole in a wall) often giving views down to just a few feet away. There will be much better photos from other people to come!

The atmosphere
at Log in the evening was understandably merry as people compared photos and
relived the encounter, whilst the day’s other birds made for an impressive
back-up cast with Olive-backed Pipit, Red-throated Pipit, Rose-coloured
Starling, Bluethroat, 3 Yellow-browed Warbler, 2 Common Rosefinch and 5 Lapland
Bunting all out there to be enjoyed. Also new for the autumn were 2 Linnets and
a skein of 16 Barnacle Geese.

Yellow-browed Warbler at Quoy, part of an impressive supporting cast of birds on a really good day's birding.

The forecast
is for continued westerlies, seemingly forever,
but we’re doing pretty well at the minute and there are some birds that seem to
have a habit of turning up on the ‘wrong’ winds, so maybe something like
Citrine Wagtail today and Pechora Pipit tomorrow (when the wind gets more NW)
could be on the cards, and perhaps later in the week we’ll continueour theme of recent autumns of an American
passerine making landfall somewhere on the island (just out of interest, it's the second anniversary of the Magnolia Warbler today)…

Sunday, 21 September 2014

19th-20th
SeptemberThe 19th
saw the last day of the spell of easterlies that had delivered some good numbers
of common migrants, an impressive display of scarcities but just two additions
to the year list (Grey Plover and Yellow-browed Warbler) and just one description species (Short-toed Lark).
Another good day of birding saw the first Corncrake and Ring Ouzel of the
autumn, along with a new Bluethroat, 4 Red-breasted Flycatchers, 8
Yellow-browed Warblers, Little Bunting, Barred Warbler, 3 Common Rosefinch, 13
Jack Snipe and 2 Grey Plover, along with a similar number of common migrants to
previous days; so despite the lack of rarities, nobody was complaining at the quality
of the birding.

This smart breeding-plumaged Grey Plover has been lingering around the Skadan for a few days. Contrary to what I said earlier in the week, there was a record in 2013 (two flyover birds on 29th September), but 2012 was a blank year, so it's always a good one for the year list.

The 20th
finally saw the winds change and, although NW is not a direction usually
associated with good birds, it often happens that on Fair Isle a switch in the wind
direction delivers something good. The early signs were interesting, with a
skein of Pink-footed Geese heard over the Obs in the morning entirely expected
given the weather, but three new Yellow-browed Warblers trapped in the garden were
less predictable.

Three Yellow-browed Warblers in an hour was a good return for the morning's ringing efforts. This was one of two trapped the previous day (photo: Ciaran Hatsell).

It wasn’t long before the first new good bird was found, when
a juvenile Rose-coloured Starling was discovered near Steensi Geo before
setting off on a wander of the south of the island.

Rose-coloured Starling. Just the second since 2008, with an autumn juvenile in 2011 the most recent record (photo: Ciaran Hatsell).

The rest of
the day produced another good spread of migrants, although mostly lingering
birds with 2 Bluethroats (at Barkland and Quoy), Little Bunting (still at Lower
Leogh), 2 Red-breasted Flycatchers, 7 Yellow-browed Warblers, 2 Common
Rosefinch and the Gadwall reappeared. There was also the first Grey Wagtail of the autumn, but most common
migrants decreased in number. By 5pm, the wind had increased, people were drifting
back towards the Obs and thoughts were maybe starting to veer slightly from
birding to eating, until a ‘red’ was added to the ‘rose’ for our list of
highlights for the day, appropriately enough by our very own Lancashire lad
Ciaran, when he found a rather smart Red-throated Pipit (maybe not a BB rare anymore, but rare enough nowadays to warrant the red font I think) in the Setter tattie
rig. Although elusive at times, everyone was eventually able to get decent
views and we were just about back in time for dinner; another good Fair Isle
day.

The Red-throated Pipit being a bit elusive but showing off several of its main identification features (pale-based bill, mantle stripes, lack of primary projection, streaked rump). There were none in 2011 and 2012, one in autumn 2013 and this is the first of the year, reflecting a change in fortunes for this formerly regular spring migrant. It was the second quality addition to the year list on the 20th, taking us to 202 for the year so far.

Friday, 19 September 2014

With a wet and murky start to the
day, things started off pretty slowly, but as the cloud lifted and the
conditions brightened up, more new birds were found and this lovely spell of
easterlies continued to intrigue.

Whilst still lacking in a new genuine
rarity, there were clearly more birds coming in, with 2 Bluethroats (which inhabited
the radically different habitats of an area of Puffin burrows on Buness and the
School car park) and a Short-toed Lark (on Ward Hill – after yesterday’s
Richard’s Pipit, I wonder what might be found up there when the cloud eventually
clears from the high ground) the scarcest new arrivals. There was also still an
obliging Little Bunting, 2 Yellow-browed Warblers, 2 Barred Warblers, a Common
Rosefinch (with sightings at Kenaby and Leogh before a bird roosted at the Obs,
so perhaps more than one was present) and 2 Red-breasted Flycatchers (with
yesterday’s ringed bird being joined by an adult at the Obs, with the two
spending a lot of time chasing each other around the garden). The Gadwall was
also present, so deserves a mention in the blog, although I appreciate that
Fair Isle is one of the few places where it would sit alongside the
previously mentioned species.

Scarce chats are always a joy to watch even if, like this young Bluethroat, they lack some of the glamour of a spring male. We've been told that these are the first Bluethroats of the autumn in the UK.

Many of the common migrants were
present in similar numbers to yesterday, although Blackcaps had increased to
34, Lesser Whitethroats to 8 and Jack Snipe to 8 (the latter count a sure sign
that ditches are being well checked for rare, creeping warblers). There were
also at least two Lesser Redpolls, with one of them trapped in the afternoon (this
species is scarce on Fair Isle, with most records coming when there are arrivals
of Mealy Redpoll, so the fact that the only redpoll records today were Lessers
is unusual).
Perhaps also of note was the first Reed
Bunting of the autumn, the first 2 Grasshopper Warbler since the 1st
of the month and an increase in Dunnocks to 6; is it clutching at straws to
describe that as a fall of locustellas,
bunting and accentors and suggest that a similar theme (but with different species)
tomorrow would be very popular indeed?

Thursday, 18 September 2014

Well, the
sun didn’t exactly come out, but the rain eased from around 6am and the cloud
starting lifting (although it lingered around the higher ground, causing the
cancellation of flights for the second day) resulting in birds being able to
find the island and being able to be found by a dried off Wardening team.Perhaps
surprisingly, there was no real new rarity amongst the many birds that had arrived,
although the Pallid Harrier remained (and the Gadwall was relocated!). Several
scarcities including a Richard’s Pipit (heard in the fog over Ward Hill; the
first of the autumn), Little Bunting (unringed, so not yesterday’s bird), 5
Yellow-browed Warbler, 4 Barred Warbler, 3 Red-breasted Flycatcher, Common
Rosefinch and a Lapland Bunting. The real highlight though was the variety and increased
number of migrants, with highest counts of the autumn so far being posted by several
species, including: 68 Song Thrush, 26 Chaffinch, 29 Blackcap (including 10
ringed at the Obs, suggesting that even more were probably lurking around the
island), 17 Grey Heron, 13 Goldcrest, 13
Chiffchaff, 11 Whinchat, 9 Robin, 9 Redstart, 6 Tree Pipit, 6 Lesser
Whitethroat, 5 Brambling, 5 Jack Snipe and 4 Redwing whilst 4 Dunnocks and a
Mealy Redpoll were the first records since the spring. Kestrel numbers were
impressive, with one of the highest ever counts seeing 13 recorded, with a
Sparrowhawk also newly arrived (and 2 Hen Harriers and a Peregrine lingering
and adding to the raptor haul). Also adding to the variety were the first Woodpigeon
since early August, the first Sand Martin of the month and the second Spotted
Flycatcher of the autumn.

In common with the rest of the UK, we're enjoying a good spell of Red-breasted Flycatchers, with one of today's birds trapped and going on to show well at the Obs. The pale wing-bar shows that this is a first-year bird.

Wader numbers
were generally down, but there was an increase in Golden Plover to 94, whilst a
cracking breeding-plumaged Grey Plover on Meoness was the first record of this
species since 2012 (so was technically our ‘bird of the day’, although that
accolade may have gone to the Citrine Wagtail heard in flight over Pund had it
been relocated, hopefully that’s one for tomorrow…).The conditions
look set to be fairly similar tomorrow and, although prolonged easterly winds
often see falls ‘blow themselves out’, I suspect that we haven’t seen the last
of the new birds associated with this weather yet. Will it be more common migrants,
more new species for the year list, or maybe that mega that this weather system
has been threatening? It seems to be a feature of Fair Isle falls that they often produce the bigger numbers of commoner birds first, with the rarities maybe following a day or two later, in which case, the next couple of days could prove quite interesting...

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This is my fifth year running FIBO with my wife Susannah. We live on the island all year with our daughters Grace (five) and Freyja (two) and there's nowhere else we'd rather be.
Visit www.fairislebirdobs.co.uk if you'd like to come and stay at the Obs guest house or drop us an email at fibo@btconnect.com